Interview: Harry N. Abrams’ Charles Kochman
Charles Kochman was recently named Executive Editor of Abrams ComicArts, a new imprint at Harry N. Abrams. The publisher rewarded Kochman with the promotion and imprint in recognition of his successful efforts to celebrate comic books and graphic storytelling with best-selling books. Kochman, a former book editor at DC Comics, joined Abrams several years back and has published a wide variety works that have garnered reviews and award nominations starting with Mom’s Cancer. His Diary of a Wimpy Kid has earned a place atop The New York Times best seller list and merited national acclaim.
Recently, Kochman sat dfown with ComicMix to review his career and where things are headed next.
CMix: How did you first get involved with publishing?
Charles Kochman: After an internship at Farrar, Straus and Giroux, my first paid job in publishing was at PlayValue Books, the licensing division of the Putnam Publishing Group. I started there right after graduation from Brooklyn College, in July 1985, working with my mentor and now friend Michael Teitelbaum. Everything I know about editing, and being an editor, I learned working at his side. Besides being a great guy, Mike and I shared a lot of common interests in music and movies and comics. Together we created a modest publishing program for our parent company, MCA Universal.
The first book I edited with Mike was a Back to the Future movie storybook, adapted by Bob Fleming. In addition, we published books on licenses like Photon, The Bionic Six, and An American Tale. I also got to write many coloring and activity books, including ones on dinosaurs, unicorns, and the Universal monsters. It was good training. The dinosaurs coloring book actually hit the B. Dalton bestseller list for some reason, which shocked all of us, including our president. I still have the note he sent me where he wrote âHoly shit! Bravo!â on a copy of the list.
After PlayValue I worked at Bantam Doubleday Dell [from 1987â93], where I edited the Choose Your Own Adventure series. There I also edited books with LucasFilm on Star Wars and Young Indiana Jones, Encyclopedia Brown, and a great karate series called Dojo Rats. Given the complexity of the Choose Your Own Adventure books, which I edited on a monthly schedule for five years, I got to sharpen my editorial skills in a way that I otherwise couldnât have had I been working on other less âinteractiveâ titles. The books were also successful, so it raised my profile in the industry, attracting the attention of some executives at DC Comics.
(more…)
You can tell the summer is over just by looking at the box office gross chart and see that the cool films have arrived and we’re in a lull as people focus on school and the arrival of the fall television season.
Philadelphia’s
Often when I talk to new people the topic of roleplaying games comes up (particularly after I’m asked “so what do you do?”), at which point I learn whether they’re gamers or not. If they’re not I usually get the classic question, “What’s a roleplaying game?” Then I explain about tabletop gaming—most often I define it as “collaborative interactive storytelling, like a mix between improv theater and a staged reading.” Sometimes they ask a few more questions about how it works, but that definition is enough to satisfy most people. But then I may get the follow-up question: “Why?”
For too long, paranormal dramas have been restricted to basic cable where they become weighed down with melodrama and morals that everyday teens can take away from each episode. I’d like to say that [[[True Blood]]] breaks that trend, but, sadly, it does not and with the exception of a few expletives and some exposed body parts, this show could certainly be made for ABC or the oh-so-hip CW.
Greg Berlanti is rapidly getting busier in Hollywood. In addition to his work with Marc Guggenheim and Michael Green on the screenplay to the Green Lantern feature film, he’s been working on the second season of ABC’s Eli Stone and Dirty Sexy Money and third season of Brothers & Sisters, all of which debut later this month. 
The Chicago Tribune
Even if we are lucky enough to ever see another Serenity feature, there are far too many questions to be answered in one sitting. One of those is just who is Shepherd Book. Joss Whedon talks about why he chose character for a new Dark Horse mini-series, plus:
or 
Oni Press has sold the film rights to their forthcoming graphic novel Ciudad to Paramount Pictures. Anthony and Joe Russo (You, Me and Dupree) wrote the comic and will pen and direct the screen adaptation according to 
